Christian detachment and poverty
If we are to follow Jesus we must be detached from everything. Attachment to material things closes our hearts to Christ, to love; and to any chance of knowing the essence of our lives. “... whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (cf Lk 14:33)
The birth of Jesus and his whole life, invite us to examine our regard for earthly goods. The Only-Begotten of the Father, the Redeemer of the world, was born in a cave, not in a palace; in Bethlehem, an unknown village, not a great city. His cradle, a manger.
The Holy Family’s hasty flight to Egypt was an exile to a foreign land. Joseph’s craftsman’s hands, their meager means of livelihood. Jesus suffered hunger (cf Mt 4:2); he did not even have the two coins of paltry value for the temple tax (cf Mt 17:23-6). He said, “the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mt 8:20). His death was the great sign of supreme detachment.
“The best examples of poverty are mothers and fathers of large poor families who spend their lives for their children through their effort and constancy often without complaining; bring up their family, creating a cheerful home; everyone learns to love, serve and work.” (cf “Conversations with Monsignor Escrivá”, 111)
The poverty that God asks does not concern squalor or apathy which are devoid of virtue. To learn to live detachment from things in the world, our Model is Jesus Christ, who “for your sake became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (cf 2 Cor 8:9).
The poor to whom Our Lord promises the kingdom of Heaven (Mt 5:3) are not just those who happen to suffer need, but those who, whether or not they have possessions, are detached from, and not imprisoned by, these material objects. Effective detachment from things demands sacrifice. Separation from what we do not find hard is not detachment.
Real detachment will often show in generous almsgiving, in knowing how to do without anything superfluous, in fighting against a disordered tendency to well-being and comfort; in avoiding indulgence of unnecessary whims, in renunciation of luxury or spending of money out of vanity, etc. Such spiritual poverty must be lived always.
As St Paul said, “I know how to do without, to abound. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.” (Phil 4:12).
Man can direct his love towards God through material means; or money as his goal and its effects: luxury, unrestrained comfort, ambition, greed. These two ends are irreconciliable. “No one can serve two masters.” (Mt 6:24)
Love for riches leaves out love of God. God’s word is stifled in the heart of a rich man like “the seeds that fell upon thorns” (Mt 13:7).
Thus, it is not surprising to hear Our Lord teach “... it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24).
Throughout “history the use of temporal things has been tarnished by serious defects”. Nowadays “not a few deviate into a kind of idolatry of the temporal” and “become the slaves rather than its masters.” (cf Second Vatican Council, “Apostolicam actuositatem”, 7)
Sincerely striving to live detached from material things, with hearts open to our Lord, invites his coming on Christmas. Then the incident in the inn will not be repeated.
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 1:205-11
The Most Redeemed of All
Blessed be God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who filled You, Virgin of Nazareth, ‘with every spiritual blessing’ in Christ. In Him You were conceived Immaculate! Preselected to be His Mother, you were redeemed in Him and through Him more than any other human being!
Preserved from the inheritance of original sin, You were conceived and came into the world on a state of sanctifying grace. ‘Full of Grace!’
We venerate this mystery of the faith. Together with all the Church, we venerate the Redemption which was actuated in You. That most singular participation in the Redemption of the world and of man, was reserved only for you, solely for you. Hail O Mary, ‘Alma Redemptoris Mater’, dear Mother of the Redeemer.
You who are ‘the first among the redeemed’, help us, men and women of the twentieth century moving toward its end and, at the same time, are people of the second millennium after Christ. Help us find once more our part in the mystery of the Redemption. Help us to understand more profoundly the divine dimension and, at the same time, the human dimension of that mystery.
Help us to draw fully on its infinite resources. Help us, redeemed by the most precious blood of Christ. All this we ask of You, O Clement, O pious, sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp19-20
Walking Toward God
Once, at the beginning of his story, man, male and female, heard the voice of temptation: “You will be like God knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:5) Man yielded to that temptation. He continues to follow it constantly. Against man’s perennial temptation, we must set the Advent of Christ; to be born of God and incessantly be reborn of him.
The progress of culture and sciences unrolls vast vistas to us. This arouses rightful joy and leads to development of a civilization of production and consumption, together with development of a civilization of menace and violence.
If, amidst such prospects, I have some particular proposal to put to you this Advent, it is: ‘Do not give up living, being born from God constantly, and being reborn from God!’
The Advent of Christ throbs in man’s nostalgia for the truth, the good and the beautiful, for justice, for love and peace. ‘Christ’s Coming throbs in the Church’s sacraments’, which enable us to be born and reborn from God.
Long live Christmas, regenerated in Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation! Long live Christmas, absorbing the deepest content of the mystery of God. Towards Him, after all, all man’s advent opens!
‘O Root of Jesse, ... come to free us’, now do not linger!
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p29
Our Lady of the Ardilliers, at Saumur, in Anjou. Its name is illustrious throughout France as well, on account of the crowds of people who were attracted there, as from a fountain which cured many maladies. This represents Our Lady of Pity holding in her arms her lifeless Son, whose head is supported by an angel. — Locrius, Mariae Augnstae, lib. iv., c. GO. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm).
Our Lady of Ardilliers, Anjou, France. (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html).
The Espousals of the Virgin Mary. (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html).
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